Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special slot review

Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special from Quickspin. You know the drill: three pigs with a penchant for home improvement vs a wolf with an appetite for destruction. Oh, and of course, it’s a Christmas special so expect a few fairy lights and a sprinkling of snowflakes.

Baby, it’s Cold Outside

Once the game has loaded, the first thing that probably meets your eyes is our titular wolf, giving lip service to Christmas in an undersized Christmas robe and ill-fitting hat.

Lurking off-grid, the big bad wolf is strangely dressed in hipster jeans that wouldn't look out of place in the trendier parts of Toronto. Bad but not particularly big, at least one out of two isn’t bad.

Our piggies also get into the Christmas spirit and are adorned in hats grasping the odd gingerbread man or reluctantly holding a candy cane. Yeah, sure, the big bad wolf is meant to be the meanie but at least he’s making some effort getting into Christmas party mode.

The base graphics are taken from the original Big Bad Wolf, with a few yuletide embellishments. If you think you’re experiencing deja vu, fear not as the visual similarities are pretty much identical to the original Big Bad Wolf.

Music is brought to us courtesy of Christmas carol-sounding music, all twinkly bells and feel-good yuletide cheer.

Snowy Symbols

For 5 on any The Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special 25 fixed paylines across 5x3 reels, payouts are as follows:

• Candy Cane Pig - 12x
• Gingerbread man Pig - 10x
• Spoon Pig - 10x
• Teddy Bear - 8x
• A - 4x
• K - 4x
• Q - 4x
• J - 3x
• 10 - 3x

Frosted Features

Not the most generous Christmas gift, Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special comes with four distinct game features.

Swooping Reels Feature

With any winning combo, the swooping reels feature springs into action. All winning symbols are puffed away by the big guy himself and all windswept symbols duly replaced. Some players might know this better as the cascading reels mechanism.

Pigs Turn Wild Feature

Land any hog symbol and the next spin featuring these pay-happy porkers will trigger the Pigs Turn Wild feature. During the Pigs Turn Wild feature, 1 of 3 pigs will become a Pig Wild. 6 consecutive wins, all 3 of the pigs walk on the wild side, becoming Pig Wilds. Wilds break down as follows:

• 2 consecutive wins - 1 Wild Pig symbol
• 4 consecutive wins - 2 Wild Pig symbols
• 6 consecutive wins - 3 Wild Pig symbols

Free Spins Feature

Wolf symbols appear as scatters. Land 3 or more symbols and trigger the Free Spins round while also being awarded a 3x wager payout and a total of 10 Free spins.

If you’re lucky enough to behold 3 or more wolf scatters landing at the same time, your Free Spins are retriggered with a further 10 Free Spins. More wins activates the Pig Turns Wild feature which can add up to 3 Pig Wilds added to the reels.

Blowing Down the House Feature

Land 3 or more Moon symbols on reel 5 and be awarded with Free Spins and Multipliers. 3 Moon symbols blow down the wooden house and award 2 Free Spins while 6 Moon symbols award 2 Free Spins and a 2x Multiplier. The 2x Multiplier applies to all outstanding Free Spins.

Big Bad Bets

5x3 High volatility Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special comes loaded with a generous 97.34% and a maximum win potential of 1,225x. Minimum and maximum bets are set at $0.25 and $100 respectively.

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

There's a huge market for fairy tale slots. Nostalgia is valuable currency for slot developers but unfortunately here's a game that totally lacks any form of rose-tinted sentimentality. Instead, we're left with a slot heaped in naivety and dripping with a Winnie The Pooh aesthetic that doesn't fit with this game in the slightest.

Not a bad mechanic, but also not original, Big Bad Wolf Christmas Special comes across as a cynical slot. This vulgar seasonal grab for those genuinely in the Christmas spirit smacks of cynicism, laziness and disrespect for slot players.

If we wanted to play the same old Big Bad Wolf slot we could just as well adorn our laptops with a touch of tinsel, a few sprigs of holly and some spray-on snow. Without sounding too stereotypically Christmas-hating, there are only two words to sum up this slot: bah humbug.